Real Box Car Willie

[Mark0820]

The last two years, I planted what I thought was Box Car Willie, but I'm not sure it was Box Car Willie.

Based on reviews on the Internet, I thought BCW was a tall, indeterminate plant. My plant grew about 3 to 3 1/2 feet. The tomatoes were slightly fluted (in my opinion) and some were kind of pointy on the bottom (not shaped like a heart, but the bottom wasn't flat. They had kind of a roundish bottom with a point.).

The production also wasn't very good. Initially, I had 6 tomatoes. Then, I read a review on Dave's Garden that this plant really likes to grow in mud. I started watering it every other day, and it set lots of fruit. However, the plant wasn't sturdy enough to handle the fruit, and it eventually collapsed to the ground in a pile.

The taste wasn't very good. Oddly enough they weren't really mushy from all of the water either. I ended up throwing them in the sauce pot.

My gut instinct tells me this wasn't Box Car Willie, but really have no idea. I contacted the person I purchased the seed from, and they said they got their seed from Totally Tomatoes. Can someone tell me what a Box Car Willie plant and tomato should be like?

[carolyn137]

Mark, there's no question that there's some wrong Box Car Willie seeds out there and I know it b'c I was the one who introduced the variety by listing it in the SSE YEarbook, many years ago now.

I sent seeds to:

Sandhill Preservation
Tomato Growers Supply

.....can't remember where else right now and also listed it in the SSE YEarbooks for many years.

Joe Bratka had found seeds in glass jars with names already on them in a tools shed on his property. They'd been bred by his father. He couldn't germinate the seeds so sent them to me and I was able to germinate:

Box Car Wille
Mule Team
Great Divide
Pasture
Red Barn

...... and I always wondered what the others that I couldn't germinate might have been.

BCW doesn't like mud, it's not fussy and should grow well, and does, for almost everyone.

It's indet, RL with a high yield of almost globe red fruits that are oblate, which means slightly flattened.

I can't tell you the height b'c most of my tomato varieties I grow by sprawling, but it's a vigorous vine and it would be much taller than about 3 ft had I grown it in cages or whatever.

There's not that much difference IMO between Mule Team and BCW and the one that I think should be more widely grown is Red Barn and seeds for that I jsut offered in my now closed Seed offer and I think it's also listed by Sandhill but I haven't yet received my 2011 Sanhill catalog to know if seeds are available for 2011.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Box_Car_Willie

Above is Tania's page for this variety and while she hasn't had the time to update seed sites for 2011 I assume that most of those seed sites listed would list it again for 2011.

And I'm still sticking to Sandhill Preservation and TGS as two good sources, not just b'c I know I was the source of their initial seeds, but also b'c I don't recall folks saying that the BCW they got from them was wrong.

[roper2008]

I grew what I think was box car willie in 2009. The tomatoes on my
plant were very big and the plant had lots of tomatoes. Very good tasting.
I'm going to plant it again this year from a different seed source.

[Mark0820]

Originally Posted by roper2008

I grew what I think was box car willie in 2009. The tomatoes on my
plant were very big and the plant had lots of tomatoes. Very good tasting.
I'm going to plant it again this year from a different seed source.

That tomato looks really good.

[Mark0820]

The more I thought about it, maybe I shouldn't have named Totally Tomatoes in my post. I didn't buy the seed directly from them. Since the information I had was second hand information, I probably shouldn't have named them.

[roper2008]

I didn't get mine from Totally Tomatoes. Mine was from Heirloom Seeds, but
I think I got the right tomato, and if I didn't I should have saved seeds because
that was a good tomato. I will be ordering new seeds from sandhill. I'm
waiting for them to update their website.

[Mark0820]

Originally Posted by roper2008

I didn't get mine from Totally Tomatoes. Mine was from Heirloom Seeds, but
I think I got the right tomato, and if I didn't I should have saved seeds because
that was a good tomato. I will be ordering new seeds from sandhill. I'm
waiting for them to update their website.

I thought you probably had a different source. While I can't see the entire tomato, my first impression is the shape of your tomato is different from the tomatoes I had.

[Fusion_power]

Both the OP's description and the photo of the tomato on the cutting board are incorrect for Box Car Willie. The original description because neither fruit nor plant description are correct and the photo because the tomato is much larger than Box Car Willie normally gets. It should be a very good flavored red oblate tomato that rarely gets over 1 pound with most in the 12 ounce to 1 pound range.

DarJones

[carolyn137]

I went to my old yearbooks to see what I said when I first listed Box Car Willie in the 1994 SSE Yearbook. Back then I wasn't as verbose as I am now, that comes with advanced age.

75-85 days, large indet, regular foliage, prolific set of 8-12 oz globes, excl taste, from Joe Bratka, NJ, O.S. NY MA C

I should have said oblate fruits but did so in my description above.

O.S. means original source and that was me as first listing it, and NY MA C is my SSE code name as in NY, my state, MA, first two letters of my last name and C, first letter of my first name.

[barkeater]

I remember about 5 years ago a lot of us got Box Car Willie from Totally Tomatoes which I think got nicknamed Faux Willie because it wasn't. However, whatever it was it was good! it was a large beefsteak with kind of a rough top; I still have seeds and have thought about growing it again. The next year I think carolyn sent me seeds of the real BCW and it was a uniform red tomato similar and slightly bigger, earlier, but not quite as productive as Red Brandywine. At least that's how I remember it. There may be a thread about it here but it might have been back in the GW days.

[Mark0820]

There's not that much difference IMO between Mule Team and BCW and the one that I think should be more widely grown is Red Barn and seeds for that I jsut offered in my now closed Seed offer and I think it's also listed by Sandhill but I haven't yet received my 2011 Sanhill catalog to know if seeds are available for 2011.
__________________

I will wait for the Sandhill catalog to see what they have. I know Adam sells Red Barn seed (I'm guessing he probably got it from you), but not BCW. I probably don't have room to grow either of them this year, but I would like to try BCW (new seed source) and Red Barn in the future (maybe in 2012). It would be nice to know what the "REAL" BCW tastes like.

[Mark0820]

Originally Posted by barkeater

I remember about 5 years ago a lot of us got Box Car Willie from Totally Tomatoes which I think got nicknamed Faux Willie because it wasn't. However, whatever it was it was good! it was a large beefsteak with kind of a rough top; I still have seeds and have thought about growing it again. The next year I think carolyn sent me seeds of the real BCW and it was a uniform red tomato similar and slightly bigger, earlier, but not quite as productive as Red Brandywine. At least that's how I remember it. There may be a thread about it here but it might have been back in the GW days.

Thanks barkeater! I like that nickname: Faux Willie. If it tasted good, that is all that really matters.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Mark0820

There's not that much difference IMO between Mule Team and BCW and the one that I think should be more widely grown is Red Barn and seeds for that I jsut offered in my now closed Seed offer and I think it's also listed by Sandhill but I haven't yet received my 2011 Sanhill catalog to know if seeds are available for 2011.
__________________

I will wait for the Sandhill catalog to see what they have. I know Adam sells Red Barn seed (I'm guessing he probably got it from you), but not BCW. I probably don't have room to grow either of them this year, but I would like to try BCW (new seed source) and Red Barn in the future (maybe in 2012). It would be nice to know what the "REAL" BCW tastes like.

I probably did send Red Barn to Adam but I'd have to check my data book to confirm that.

Joe Bratka's father must have used somewhat similar parents for most of the varieties he bred b'c I don't see that much difference between BCW and Mule Team although I prefer BCW for taste, Great Divide is a large red and Red Barn is also a large red, and I said above I do like Red Barn a lot.

Pasture is a red cherry with rampant vines, perhaps best used to out compete Kudzu vine in the south when trying to cover outhouses quickly. I kid you not, that's what one person was using it for. The cherries don't have great taste but aren't all that bad.

[Mark0820]

Originally Posted by roper2008

I didn't get mine from Totally Tomatoes. Mine was from Heirloom Seeds, but
I think I got the right tomato, and if I didn't I should have saved seeds because
that was a good tomato. I will be ordering new seeds from sandhill. I'm
waiting for them to update their website.

Did you buy Box Car Willie seed from Sandhill? I did. My plant is growing extremely well, but I only have two clusters of blossoms (three blossoms each). It is still early in the year, but some of my other plants are just loaded. Are you getting a lot of fruit set and blossoms on your BCW?

[organichris]

I didn't intend on growing Box Car Willie, but I saw some Ferry-Morse seeds in the nursery and couldn't very well resist. I actually have a few BCW plants, but only one of them is producing in this heat. Haven't had any ripe yet.